I initially set out with the plan to make a Red Velvet Cake. Last weekend, I was at the wedding of my best friends from my study abroad program in Guanajuato, Mexico. One of the other bridesmaids was telling us about her most recent birthday in New York where she'd just moved for graduate schools. She made herself birthday Red Velvet Cupcakes because she didn't know anyone yet. If it helped her through her solo-birthday in the Big Apple, I thought that it should also help me through my anger/disappointment/relief/freedom/excitement/whatever-feeling-this-is. My favorite way to cheer up is to head to the kitchen in high heels, crank up the music, and dance my way to something delicious. After my last breakup, I made a red velvet cake in my now much emptier apartment while wearing black peep-toe heels and singing La Roux's Bulletproof on the top of my lungs. Side note: I really need to enforce a "no-takebacksies" policy. I tried adding beet juice to the batter for color, but it was overpowered by the super dark cocoa powder I used, and the cake was black. Like, Oreo black. I needed a new recipe, but I wasn't satisfied with any of the recipes I found.
There wasn't a single recipe out there with 5 stars. The highest rated version on most websites used vegetable shortening and a full bottle of red food coloring, two things I prefer to avoid in the kitchen. Our bodies make and recognize cis-fatty acids. Cis-fats are unsaturated fats that allow fluidity in the membrane by kinking the fatty acid chain, so fewer fatty acids can cluster in any one spot. I like to think that my fats are fluid and not tightly packed like trans-fats and saturated fats! As for red dye 40, my only real complaint is that nothing in nature is that red. The main role of food dye is food identity. Most people in first-world countries are so far distanced form the natural form of their food that they won't eat an heirloom tomato because "it doesn't look like a tomato." For that reason some foods that seem natural, such as oranges and salmon, are artificially colored to give consumers what they expect.
While searching for the perfect Red Velvet Cake, I came upon Smitten Kitchen's Red Wine Chocolate Cake and thought it would be the perfect replacement. I started with Deb's recipe and did what I could with what I had in my apartment. Oh, and I had to add frosting because it wouldn't be a fake Red Velvet Cake without it! You can find the frosting in the supporting materials.
Objective
Cheer myself up with cake made with red wine and my favorite boiled frosting for red velvet cake.
Materials
6 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 Tbs cream
3/4 red wine (I used Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz; I also was just short of 3/4 cup, so I topped it off with skim milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup, heaping, all-purpose flour (133 grams)
1/2 cup, heaping, Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder (46 grams)
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 t sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease a 9" cake pan and line it with a circular piece of parchment paper, spray some oil on the parchment.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars on medium speed until smooth.
3. Add the egg, cream and vanilla. When incorporated, add the red wine and vanilla.
4. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and baking powder into the wet mixture. Mix until nearly homogeneous, then gently fold until all of the remaining flour is hydrated.
5. Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly.
6. Bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven, cool in pan 10 minutes, then flip onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Remove the parchment paper.
Results
Um, yep! I feel much better. The cake was barely in the oven when a buzz kicked in from licking the bowl clean. This cake is sort of like cookies, why bake them? Leave out the eggs and indulge in the batter. Getting to eat the frosted cake when it was ready was just a bonus! The cake is moist and chocolately with a hint of wine.
Discussion and Future Directions
I chose to use Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz for the wine because I had just about enough left and thought a sweet red would be significantly better in a cake than a dry wine. I don't like dry wine and I don't think baking it in a cake would make me like it more (it would probably just make me dislike the cake). The wine is a fruity wine described as "blueberries, blackberries and raspberries with dark chocolate undertones." Another sweet red I would recommend trying is Sweet Bliss. The original recipe included cinnamon, but I'm very glad I left it out. It had enough flavor without it and the fruitiness held it's own. I thought adding cinnamon would make it too much like a molten lava cake. While that is a delicious cake option, I was really most interested in using my cake as a vehicle for the frosting (recipe follows in the Supplementary Materials section)!
This is probably an adults-only cake. I can imagine this being a wonderful cake to bring to a book club or a bachelorette party (probably not suitable for a baby shower or child's birthday party). This recipe is well-worth a trip to the grocery store to pick up a bottle of wine (if you live in a state that allows such things). If you live in Indiana or another state that prohibits alcohol sales on Sunday, be sure to keep a bottle on hand just in case. If you live in Colorado and can't buy wine in the grocery store, add a stop to the liquor store to your to-do list. I can promise that if you're having a bad day, this cake will cheer you up. The frosting is a bit tedious to make, but the cake doesn't even need it. Sprinkle it with powdered sugar to make it look pretty if you want, but it will probably disappear before anyone even notices the decorations.
Supplementary Materials
Adapted from Flour.
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tbsp. cake flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
In a medium saucepan, whisk the milk and flour until it thickens. Remove from heat and whisk occasionally until it comes to room temperature. Once cooled, slowly beat the sugar into the thickened mixture on low speed. Slowly beat in the butter until well incorporated. Add the vanilla and salt. Beat on medium until smooth and satiny (6-8 minutes and don't be alarmed if it gets nasty and separates before it gets silky). This makes enough for one 9-inch cake. Make more for a layer cake.
